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A Nest of Vipers

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About this listen

A Nest of Vipers is the twenty-first novel in Andrea Camilleri's irresistible Inspector Montalbano series.

Quite a family, you had to admit! A nest of vipers might be a better description . . .

On what should be a quiet Sunday morning, Inspector Montalbano is called to a murder scene on the Sicilian coast. A man has discovered his father dead in his Vigàtan beach house: his body slumped on the dining room floor, his morning coffee spilt across the table, and a single gunshot wound at the base of his skull.

First appearances point to the son having the most to gain from his father’s untimely death, a notion his sister can’t help but reinforce. But when Montalbano delves deeper into the case, and learns of the dishonourable life the victim led, it soon becomes clear half of Vigàta has a motive for his murder and this won’t be as simple as the Inspector had once hoped . . .

A Nest of Vipers is followed by the twenty-second gripping mystery, The Pyramid of Mud.

 Crime Thrillers Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Thriller Crime Suspense Murder

Critic reviews

Montalbano's colleagues, chance encounters, Sicilian mores, even the contents of his fridge are described with the wit and gusto that make this narrator the best company in crime fiction today
Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . Simply superb
One of fiction's greatest detectives and Camilleri is one of Europe's greatest crime writers
All stars
Most relevant
The story is interesting overall making you wonder who the murderer is and make guesses. However, it culminates to something really shocking and twisted in the end that I wish I hadn't read (as it happens with the Treasure Hunt book) and left you wondering about the details (quite surreal). This is one of those sick Camilleri stories that are not my cup of tea but if you like Scandinavian type crime stories you might like this one as well. Also, in this book, Montalbano seems to be giving too much work to the others while himself having time to go for his usual strolls and take it easy (which is unusual of him as in other stories he usually does more work than everyone else) which I didn't like and while Livia is visiting they keep quarrelling but in the end he misses her, which didn't make sense. Overall, I didn't really enjoy this one. He has written way better and more enjoyable stories. Performance was very good though

it left me with a bad aftertaste

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